I'll Never Leave You
by JibanyanAssassin
Summary: I thought life was pointless, after my parents died. But hope was restored to me. After finding a Litten. And I'll save him from his curse before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1: The Litten

"Where are you going now?"

"Ugh, just shut up! I'm going outside!"

"Fine, get back before dark."

"Can't get a break at all! I hate everyone!" I thought, slamming the door behind me.

To start off, I'm a Buizel, male. I live in the region called, Yalso. The region of sightseeing locations. My life became awful when I turned fourteen. My parents died, and it was hard for me. Once they died, I was sent to an orphanage. But they treat everyone badly there. I find myself walking around more then staying in there. And this is where my story begins. Let's start from the beginning.

Once again, I got in a fight with someone, and headed out to cool off. I went to my normal location, Crystal River. It always cleared my head. My life was pretty much horrible. Sometimes I don't know why I'm still here. And just wanted to end it. But that isn't what my parents would want. So I continue fighting, and hope something good happens in my life. But once I reached the river, I sat there for a couple minutes. Till I heard some soft crying. It was pretty strange, due to no one ever here when I was. I called out seeing if anyone replied. But nothing, it was pretty weird. But it continued. Getting up, I started wondering. So I headed where the noise was coming from. Passing some brush, I found a Litten, sitting in front of the water. Confused why there was someone here, I started slowly walking to them. Seeing the water ripple from fallen tears. I called out to him.

"Uh, he- hello? Are you okay?"

He suddenly stopped and gasped. Frozen in place, he just sat there. Stepping right behind him, and placing my hand on him. He stiffen up, with the touch. Then started shaking. He finally spoke.

"Yea- Yeah… I'm fine." He said.

Clutching his eyes to avoid tears falling.

"Why are you crying?" I asked.

"I… I wasn't crying!" He said.

It took a bit. But he finally explained how he was kicked out of his family. Just like I was torn apart from mine. But he wouldn't tell me why. And I stopped asking. We ended up becoming friends quite quickly. Hadn't had one for three years. I told him about my life as well. And we had a lot of things in common. Spending the entire day at that location. He finally cheered back up, even know I was hating everything still. It was nice to have someone nice in my life. Everyone I knew were hateful against me. After the day ended, we both agreed to meet there again. I finally felt happy once again, that feeling was so hard to feel. But maybe I found a new friend, that gave me hope. I didn't even care what everyone said to me when I got back. I couldn't wait till the next day. And fell asleep easily that night.

The next day, I left without saying anything. I didn't want to bother with anyone, and quickly made it to the river. Reaching it, I waited. Once Litten showed up, he looked worried. I questioned him and he said.

"I guess… I should tell you the truth..." Sounding scared.

Agreeing, I listened.

"We don't have much time… I don't have much time. The reason why I was kicked out of my family… It's because a curse was put on me. And it's slowly killing me. I really don't want to leave, even after meeting you..." He said, starting to cry.

I was shocked. Asking how long he had this on him, he said four days ago. And he may only have another week left. I felt like crying. But I couldn't do anything. And I hated myself for it, I was so useless. After standing there in shock for a bit. He farewell me for today. After he went out of view, I fell to me knees. Anger filled me. I didn't want to sit back and watch the only thing I cared about die. Just wither away, I wasn't going to do that. But I didn't know what to do. I was pretty much useless, there wasn't anyplace I could go. There wasn't just a cure sitting around. Slapping myself a couple times, I got up and walked back. Getting back to the place for my home, I fell asleep. Trying to figure out what to do.

"Ruby Caves..." A voice echoed in my head.

"Ruby Caves… Deepest level..." It continued echoing.

"The caves!" A demonic voice shouted.

After that, I shot up sweating in my bed. Heart beating so hard, it hurt. Wondering what in the world that dream was, I checked the time. Only 3:20 in the morning. Trying my best to fall asleep again, I finally did.

"Ugh… Wh- what?" I said.

I wasn't in my bed anymore. I was in a cave system, pretty sure ruby cave. I could only crawl. Looking up, I saw some kind of scroll. With red and blue textures, it was confusing. But I regained my walk and reached out for it. Grabbing it, the scroll suddenly opened. Floating midair, it showed a map. Showing about five locations. Memorizing them before it closed, I awoken. Sun shining and everything. Wondering how long I slept, I checked. 4:10PM. I was pretty shocked, but quickly got ready and ran out. Heading to the river. That dream was probably telling me something. I've heard tails of scrolls being scattering around the region. For protective reason. Like Yuka with the eight stones. Or Jalso with eight staffs. Each region had eight objects for each of it's guardians. And ours were some kind of scrolls. Holding some legendary power. But no one ever seen them, so I thought they were fake. After making it to the river, I found Litten. Sitting there like last time. He noticed me approach and gave me a cold hello. After telling him of my dream, he thought I was lying. Telling me theirs noway to reverse this. And he pretty much accepted it already. But I was going to show him. And dashed to the first location. Apparently Ruby Caves. I'll save this life. And not like someone else I'm close with die...


	2. Chapter 2: First Trail

"Don't attempt to save him. You're just going to get yourself killed."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" I screamed.

"Don't save him..."

"I said shut up! You can't convince me!" I continued.

"Pff… Have it your way..."

Moments later, I awoken on the hard ground. It was time to go in. Walking inside the cave, I started going deep down. Trying to find what it wanted me to find. Getting about half way down, the air started getting thick. I knew I'm getting close. Another minute, I dropped down in a big chamber. Looking man-built. And in the middle was the scroll. Running up to it, I was knocked back by an invisible barricade. Moments later a giant shadow figure appeared out of nowhere. It's blood red eyes stared me down. And I was terrified. Frozen in place, it finally spoke to me.

"A mortal…? Why have you come here…?"

"I… I- Uh… I need some power from that scroll of yours..." I stuttered.

"And why do you wish to do so…?" It replied.

"I'm trying to save my friend. I… I read getting each eight scrolls power, will provide life." I said back.

"Heh… If you wish to borrow the power… You're going to have to face a trail..." It said.

"A trail?" I asked.

"Yes, pass it and you earn the power. Will you accept…?" It said back.

"Uh, question first. What do you mean by trail?" I asked again.

"Each guardian of the scrolls will put you through a trail. All different. Pass them and earn it's power." It explained a bit.

"My trail… Is the trail of survival. Learn more by accepting it." It added.

"I… I want to save my friend. Then I accept!" I said.

"Very well..." It replied.

Before I knew it, the shadow shot a ball of black lightning at me. Once it cleared, I was somewhere else. Seemed like the trail course. The shadow appeared in front of me again. Waving it's massive wing like arm, things started appearing out of nowhere.

"Now, this is the trail of survival. You're task is, find ten different survival like items. All scattered in this forest. And you may want this." It said, giving me a blood ruby sword.

"Whoa! A sword completely made out of the rarest gems?! Why do I need this?" I asked.

"You're not alone in there. Make sure to take down anything that hunts you. Good luck..." It said, vanishing into thin air.

I kept looking at the sword. Blood gems are so rare, it looked awesome. And when I say rare. I mean ultra rare. Only a few miners found these and sold them for over a million. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I ventured in the forest. A tree had a piece of paper on it. Ripping it off, it had a check list of items.

"Coal, wood, rock, flint, tent, compass, tarp, food, water, lighter." I read.

Before I could walk in, I was stopped by the same force field thing. The shadow appeared once more.

"One last thing before you enter. Take this. Trust me, this is very easy. The more trails you complete it's get much more difficult… Happy hunting." He said, tossing down a collection bag. I assume.

Looking inside the bag, it contained a watch and another paper. Looking at the paper I read.

"Put this on. This moderate your heart rate. Don't let it reach over 200. Keep this on for each trail."

Putting it on, it started updating my heart rate. 97. Well, time to go. As I entered the forest, I started looking for everything. Midway through, I encountered what I believe was my first enemy. Pulling on my sword, it started walking towards me. But it also pulled out something. A blood diamond sword. Which is even better then my sword. And that can cut without trying. It tried swinging at me, but it was pretty bad at aiming. Swinging back at it, I ended up slicing it's head off. After that he just vanished. I was pretty sure these were just made by that shadow thing. I continued on my search. After finding five of them, the watch started talking.

"Fifty percent complete. Releasing boss."

"A boss?!" I thought.

Before I knew it, I heard a loud crash. And something that sounded like a chainsaw. My eyes winded, as I saw the massive enemy. Chainsaw in his hands. I quickly ran from it. I manged to gather three more items, but that monster caught up with me. Attempting to saw me in half, I tried to attack it. But it wasn't going down easily. I gave up trying to take it down, so I ran. Trying to find the other items. And I did. I found all ten items when the watch spoke again.

"All item's collected. Bring them to the start to finish."

I was still being chased by that massive boss. But once I finally reached the outside again. It vanished, along with everything else. Catching my breath, the guardian appeared in front of me. The items I collected started floating. After the guardian viewed every item. It spoke.

"Very good, you passed. Time to head back." It sent another ball of lightning at me.

Once again opening my eyes, we were back at the scroll.

"You passed the trail of survival. You showed your survival skills. And now you can take the power..." It said.

Walking up to the scroll. I gently picked it up, and opened it. It floated from my hands, and started sending these strange symbols of words onto me. I ended up glowing a reddish color. After 30 seconds, it closed. Returning to my normal color, I was confused to what happened. But looking down at my arm, it had an apple symbol.

"You now have one out of eight symbols. The icons on your arm tells you what you had passed." It said.

"Once you completed each of the trails. You should have four symbols on each arm. Once you have completed each trail, you can use the power of life once. After that all your symbols will disappear. And you'll have to complete them again." It added.

"How does this work?" I asked.

"You'll learn when you complete all. But the power of life, it will cure anyone from. Death, illness, curses, medical problems. Anything dealing with the body." It replied.

"Now it's time you should leave..." It said. Surrounding me in a black mist.

About an hour later, I awoke in front of the cave. Looking at my arm, it still had the apple. Looking around, I noticed the blood ruby sword. I was excited to see it. I thought it'd disappeared once I completed it. But I guess this is a trail item. And will disappear once I complete them all. Getting up, there wasn't really a place to go. Checking the book I brought. The second scroll should be around, Torn City. And that's where I'll go. Problem was, I only had about a week or two to do this. And these places are so far away. If I'm going to save Litten in time, I have to find a quicker way to travel. Hopefully everything works out fine. And now, I've set out for Torn City. Wondering what the next trail will be like. I'll save Litten, I promise...


	3. Chapter 3: Gathering A Team

Looking at the tattoo of the apple, I wondered what the next trail was. I ended up walking through Plasma City. While walking through it, I was given some strange looks. But I didn't really think much of it, maybe my clothe style. Stopping by a restaurant just to eat something. While sitting down waiting for my food, someone tapped my shoulder. Looking over, it was an odd looking Umbreon. Just looking at me.

"Uh, can I help you?" I asked.

"You're a trail runner right?" He said, pointing at my arm.

"Uh… Yes…?" I said, still confused.

"I'm just visiting Yalso, but I know these trails get insane!" He exclaimed.

"Huh, really? Do you know what these are about?" I asked.

"Not really. But I did hear one of them uses lava. And a rocket launcher turret." He said back.

"Great…" I sighed deeply.

He continued burying me with nonsense. When I heard a yell.

"Umbreon! Get over here!" The voice came from an Espeon.

He dashed quickly over, and she walked over.

"Ugh, sorry… Umbreon is known to get side tracked a lot..." She said.

"Yeah, I seen..." I replied.

She explained they were in Yalso from Yuka. Grabbing some stuff Yalso only sold. Saying it's for some Riolu I never heard of before. After she apologized another ten times, they went their way. Not thinking much more about it, I ate and headed out. For the next trail. Torn City wasn't far now, and I'm prepared for anything. Hopefully not getting blown up in the process. Another painful three days later, I finally arrived at Torn City. Really wished I rode the bus or something. Getting in the city, I heard the scroll was found in a nearby cave. Finding a strangely shaped cave, I entered, wondering what was down there. Midway down, I stepped on something that pushed down. Looking down, it was a pressure plate. Not thinking, I sprinted the rest of the way. Hearing the whooshing sounds of arrows pass behind me. Up ahead, I then saw a stone door. Slowly closing. This pushed me harder to make it, and I did. Barely about to close, I slid in. Nearly crushing my foot. Once in, it looked pretty interesting. Having many diamonds and other rare gems on it's walls. In the middle like the last one, was the scroll. Floating in it's normal shrine. And like the other one as well, the guardian appeared. Appearing as a spiky giant. Looking over it, it started speaking.

"Oh…? What's that? An apple symbol. So you beaten the first trail… Good."

"Ye- yeah, and I'm ready to face this one!" I said.

"Very well." It said, wrapping me in a spiky ball.

Moments later, I opened my eyes to a wall of spikes.

"Now… This is the trail of pain." It said.

"In this one, you'll need to face your pain. And take control. In the middle of this poison spike maze, is a small stone. In carved into it, a potion. Once you have the potion stone, bring it back out. But watch out, getting poison can be deadly, killing anything within a minute. Be careful, and have fun. Haha..." It said, disappearing.

From where it stood, a small piece of paper lay. Showing a child drawing of the maze. It seemed pretty simple enough. Thing that scared me was the poison. Killing anything within a minute, it did not sound fun. Must be pretty advance poison to do so. Looking over the map once more, I headed in. The paths were pretty closed in, with the spikes nearly rubbing against me. Continuing to follow the path, I did find a potion. Not the stone, but it was a real potion. Reading "Poison removal potion". So at least I have a chance. And not die from poison. My watch started speaking and said.

"Potion received. Raising difficulty to seven. Closing opened pathways."

"You gotta be kidding me right?" I thought.

Looking at the map, it updated somehow. Now showing over nine pathways blocked. But none in front of me. Not wanting to raise it anymore, I rushed to the middle. And once I reached it, the stone lay there. On the diamond shrine. Snatching it, the watch once again spoke.

"Stone received. Releasing boss..."

"Crap, like the last one?!" I thought again.

Before I knew it, I heard loud clanking of metal. Then a loud roar right behind me. My eyes widen and looked behind me. It was a massive shadow piece of armor.

"Better start running!" It yelled.

Not even a second later, I was out of there. Running through the poison maze trying to dodge the spikes. But found myself getting stuck by a ton of them. The sudden pain of the poison shocked me. Stopping me in my tracks. Reaching for my potion, the boss landed right behind me. I quickly poured the potion on me. But it was to late. Before I manged to get up, the massive piece of metal slammed it's foot on my leg. I let out a hear shattering scream. Looking at my shattered left leg, I tried getting up. Getting up, I tried skipping on my working leg, still shocked from the poison and now my leg. My scroll symbol were flashing red. And I'm pretty sure that means I'm in pain or something. I saw the end right there, and as I was about to exit. My right left was grabbed by something. Knocking me to the ground, looking back it was the monster grappling my leg. With what looked like a hook. It was being hold by the force field of the scroll test place. But it was still able to grapple me. As it pulled me near it, I tried my hardest knocking it off. But it was locked in place, and nothing was breaking it off. As I tried resisting, I ended up shoving my entire hand in the poison spikes. All of them were stuck in my hand, and then dissolved into my hand. Turning it green, and slowly spreading around my body. And now, I'm dead for sure, and this wasn't even the second trail. I gave up and let the monster pull me in. Feeling extremely weak because of the poison. Once it pulled me back into the arena, it threw me up in the air. Then a drill came out of it's arm. I was to weak to even react, as I hit the drill, all I could feel was the pain. Blood and everything coming from me. Then my vision went black.

"You failed." A voice rang.

Before I knew it, a sudden burst of light hit me. And I woke up at the start of the trail. Amazed to how I was alive. The shadow appeared in front of me, after regaining my head.

"Very disappointing. You were so close also, better luck next time." It said.

"Ho- how I'm I even alive?" I asked.

"Never died in an arena before? Heh, you don't die for real. But the pain is for real, once you die. You just wake up back here. Completely healthy again, don't worry. Nothing happens to you or your scroll power." It replied.

"So… In an arena, I can't die? But out of it… I can?" I asked again.

"Pretty much. The special power that surrounds these arenas give infinite life. So if you die, you just wake up from the beginning. And from what I saw, you may need help. Come back after getting two other teammates." It said.

"A team? How is that possible, do they get the power as well?" I continued asking.

"No, only the leader of the party gets the power. They're just there for help. So when you gather two other teammates come back. And I shall test your might again. A choose carefully, not everyone is able to last a second in these. With that said, I wish you farewell for now." It said, wrapping me in another spike ball.

Then I woke up outside again.

"But… It felt so real, I thought I died in real life..." I said.

Getting up, I knew just the two. Hopefully that didn't leave Yalso yet, I believe they said they're here for another week or two. And luckily a shopping item on their list is in Torn City. And so I waited, watching everything extremely carefully. Not wanting to miss them. I'm pretty sure these two can help a lot. They did say they were experienced with a lot of things. And maybe they can spear some of their items for me. And so I waited, and hope they show up sooner or later...


	4. Chapter 4: Duo Second Trail

Waiting on a bench in Torn City. I waited for those two. And I was lucky, I soon found then walking around. Getting up, I quickly rushed over to them.

"Hey! Happy to run into you again!" I said.

"Oh, it's you again? Following us?" Espeon said, chuckling a little.

"Uh, not really. Been here for a couple hours now. But I need to ask you something." I said back.

Umbreon perked up with me saying this.

"And this is…?" Espeon asked, confused.

"Well… Uh… I know we only met once for like a minute. But I need help with this trail." I said.

"Yes! Espeon please yes!" Umbreon said, straight away.

"But uh, Umbreon… We need to bring this to Riolu..." Espeon said to him.

"Bu- but! I always wanted to do this!" Umbreon replied, looking teary eye.

"Umbreon, don't do this." She said.

He kept staring at her. With his watery eyes. I didn't expect this from this Umbreon. And she kept trying to ignore him. But I guess she broke.

"Umbreon… Stop giving me those eyes. Ugh! Okay fine! We'll help him..."

He exclaimed pretty loudly, and pulled me along.

Moments later, we reached the cave. And we entered, Espeon locked him a death grip by Umbreon. Once reaching the scroll location, the shadow appeared. Looking excited.

"Ah… You found two others. An Umbreon and Espeon eh? Now did you drag them here by force, or did they agree…?" It said.

"We agreed!" Umbreon said, really happily.

"Good… Now let's begin the test. The test of pain!" It exclaimed, wrapping us into the torn ball.

And moments later we all opened our eyes. And I saw the same maze. At lease it didn't change. Umbreon who seemed so excited to see this. Espeon on the other hand, looked pretty terrified.

"Alright guys. There's only one poison potion here. That's all I found, so don't touch the venom spikes. For some reason the poison will kill you in a minute. So try and not touch anything. And once we pick the potion stone thing up, a boss appears. So we need out of there quickly. And don't get drilled like I did last time. The pain is real..." I said.

Umbreon looked ready, and Espeon didn't want anything to do with this. After that short talk, we entered.

Once in, it looked the same. But with more trail goers. They stood behind me, probably I knew the area. After reaching the potion the watch said it's normal thing.

"Potion received. Raising difficulty to seven. Closing open pathways."

"Uh, that doesn't sound good..." Espeon said.

"Don't worry, I know the way after the pathways closed..." I replied.

We continued through the thorny maze. And after a few more minutes we reached the center of the maze. The stone laying on it's normal location. Picking it up, and it said.

"Stone received. Releasing boss..."

"Run!" I screamed.

And we all ran from the boss before it landed. Somehow not hitting any spikes from either of us, we continued. Feeling the ground shake from the metal death machine. I ended up tripping, causing the others to trip. But we quickly got up, the machine right behind us. After getting about twenty feet, I heard a sharp pained gasp. Looking back, I saw Espeon full of thorns. She didn't care about it and ran still. I threw the potion behind me, and she grabbed it. And poured it over her, curing her. Feeling better, we continued running. Making many sharp turns and dodging the attacks. We saw our escape. But it felt so far away, and we kept pushing to make our way out. I burst out the exit not impaling myself. Looking back, I saw Umbreon rush out as well. But we didn't see Espeon.

"Espeon?" Umbreon questioned.

We both looked in for a better view. And moments later she appeared in view. But after that, she let out a loud scream. And we saw blood shoot out. That drill expanded out of it's arm and shot through her.

"Espeon!" Umbreon then screamed.

"Hold up, don't run!" I said, holding him back.

After the drill was removed, she stumbled a bit. Before falling to the ground, unresponsive. Moments later, she vanished into dust.

"Trail goer, Espeon has died." A voice announced.

After that, the shadow appeared.

"You have retrieved the stone… Good job..." It said. Quickly wrapping us.

Moments later, I woke up in front of the scroll. Umbreon next to me.

"You did good, the power is yours..." It said. Giving me the scroll.

Opening it, the same thing happened. But this time, I was wrapped in a blue mist. And my symbol glowed a bright neon red. Umbreon looked on, as words printed on me. After that I blacked out.

Minutes later, I awoke to Umbreon shaking me.

"Oh, your awake! At lease you didn't die… But that was so cool! After you fell, a strange spike symbol was burned into your skin!" He said.

Looking at my arm, a spike icon lay.

"You showed your power. As a team… But I'm not sure about that Espeon." It said.

"Oh right! Where did Espeon go?!" Umbreon said.

"Right here..." Espeon said, out of nowhere.

Looking over, she was just sitting on the hard ground. Walking over, she seemed to wonder what my icon was.

"Seems like you two don't know yet… But you can't die in these… The pain's real though, so try and not to die..." It replied.

"Thankfully… I didn't want to die now." Espeon said.

After that, we walked out. After getting something to eat, I stood outside checking the next location. Third scroll was in, a place called "Valley Of The Undead". Seemed kinda dark for a scroll location. But I didn't mind, as long as it will save Litten. We all stood outside, and facing both of them.

"So… I guess this is goodbye? I was hoping you'd stay..." I said.

"Oh man, I'm not leaving! I'm coming with you. You're so cool!" Umbreon said.

"Umbreon! We really need to head back!" Espeon complained.

"Just call Riolu. That supplies can wait! It's not important anyways." He argued back.

Espeon looked completely steamed but agreed. But turned to me.

"I'm calling our friend… You're talking to him." She said.

"What? Why me?" I asked.

"Because you need to explain why you need us..." She said back.

She then called this Riolu and shoved the phone at me. It rang and a few seconds later, it picked up.

"Hello?" A voice, probably Riolu came through.

"He- Hello? Is this Riolu…?" I said.

"Who's asking?" It said back.

"I'm friends of Umbreon and Espeon..." I said.

"Ugh… One job..." He said, under his breath.

"Ugh, yes I'm Riolu… Did you need something?" He added.

After explaining, he was pretty annoyed. But agreed.

"Fine, guess that stuff could wait. Anyways just bring them back safe." He said.

Finally hanging up, I told them. Umbreon was excited to go on an adventure. And Espeon still hated the idea, but followed anyways. After that we continued walking to the next area. Valley of the undead...


	5. Chapter 5: Third Trail

"Woohoo!"

"Wait up!"

We were sprinting to the next location. Not wanting to waste a second. But we found ourselves taking a break at a nearby spring. Swimming and such. Espeon was staring at us, rolling her eyes.

"Are you guys done?" She asked.

"Why don't you enjoy swimming a bit? Look like you need it, you did get killed back there." Umbreon said.

"Didn't get "Killed". And I hate swimming… Can't we just get going?" She said.

"Yeah, she's right… Let's get going." I said to him.

We were near the next location. But in the middle of it, we found this rest stop. But it was time to go. Next scroll here I came.

And after forty minutes, we reached the next location. Ready to take it on. As we walked on the bones and gravel pathway, I felt watched. But it was possibly the guardian. But this feeling was different, but I shook it off. Reaching the metal doors, I pushed them open. Creating a massive screeching noise. Covering our hears from the deafening noise, skeletons started rising. With swords and shields.

"What is this? A video game?" Espeon said.

"Doesn't matter, let me deal with them." I replied. Reaching for my blood sword.

The two stood behind me, while I pretty much crushed there bones into dust. And before I knew it, all were dead again. Catching my breath, the bony guardian appeared.

"What is that?!" Umbreon exclaimed in fear.

Once the guardian appeared fully. It scanned the battle field. Without saying anything, it opened the next pairs of doors. Behind the ones we opened. Then it vanished.

"Uh, not much of talker I guess..." Espeon said.

We walked down, expected more skeletons. Or even zombies. But nothing. And the rest of the decent was quiet. With the sound of our footsteps. After reaching the bottom, there it was. A bone scroll with textures of flesh. It was kinda gross.

And entering the area, the guardian reappeared. Just staring at us with black sockets for eyes. And with a small movement from his hand, words appeared.

"You will go through the trail of mystery. Will you accept?" I read.

"Uh, yes?" I said, bit confused.

It nodded and covered us in a ball of flesh and bone. Didn't need sleep anyways.

Once we opened our eyes, kinda frighten once we saw the arena. And the thing appeared again like the last two. And words came out of nowhere.

"You have a party of three. You're able to attempt this trail..."

"In this trail, all three of you are cloned. These clones will attempt to make you follow them. If you pick the wrong one. Let's just say death will be quickly… Now begin..." I read.

Staring at each others, I was confused with this trail. The other ones were like retrieve items and survive the boss. This was completely different.

"So, uh… What's the plan here?" Umbreon asked.

"No idea. We have to make code words. To tell who's the real one..." I replied.

"How bout a number code? 395?" Espeon said.

"That sound's pretty good… Okay so if they walk up to you. Say 395. And hopefully we find each others." I said.

And with that, we walked in. Once we did, everything went black. And when I opened my eyes, I was alone in the giant arena. Without thinking much, I started searching for my party.

Entering an opening, I saw Espeon. But on high guard, I walked up to her. She noticed me as well, and walked up to me.

"Uh… This place is massive." She said.

"Yeah… Uh, 395?" I asked.

"Oh, that was quick. Guess we're together." She said.

"Huh? You're the real Espeon?" I said, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, but… I've been searching for Umbreon. I'm not sure where he is." She replied.

We started searching for him, but I also noticed. I didn't see any other soul in here. No clones, no nothing. I thought it said there would be clones of us. But that made it a little easier. But we still couldn't find him. Looking at my watch, it said all of us were alive. But the health bar for Umbreon was half. I showed Espeon, and she wanted to find him faster.

But being a massive arena, it wasn't going to be easy. And we kept searching. Monitoring Umbreon's health. That hadn't dropped. And after five minutes of searching, I said on the ground. A piece of his jet black shirt. Following with some blood. That lead away from the clothe item.

"That's Umbreon's shirt. Did something happen?" Espeon asked.

"Maybe. We should hurry and find him. I feel like this is more sinister then clones..." I replied.

"That sparks my question. Why is there no clones? Didn't it say there would be clones?" She questioned.

"Yeah, but hadn't seen one yet. Let's just find Umbreon." I replied again.

And with that, we followed the tiny droplets of blood. Leading deeper and deeper from safety. But it ended, and thinking Umbreon fixed his wound or something. Checking my watch, it said he had 46 percent health. And us at hundred percent. While tampering with the watch, it opened a map. Not knowing what I press, it viewed the playing field. And three dots. Must've been us.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" She asked.

"I have no idea. Just pressing random buttons. But look these dots must be party members." I replied.

"Yeah, your right. There's two dots on top of each others. I'm pretty sure that's us." She replied.

"And there's an orange dot ahead of us." I said, confused.

"Must be Umbreon. But why did we find each others so quickly? I didn't even move." She said.

"Let's just be glad, come on. Let's get Umbreon before he dies." I replied.

And we walked in the way, I think Umbreon was. Continuing to look at the watch, his dot stopped completely. And turned red. And with that my watch beeped. Checking it, I noticed why. It said his health was at almost ten percent. We hurriedly rushed to him. And reaching his location, the strong scent of death invaded us.

Looking around, we did find him. But his entire side was ripped to shred. Exposing his ribs.

"Oh my ugh!" Espeon exclaimed, looking away.

Nearly throwing up, I saw he was still alive.

"Um- Umbreon?" I said, reaching out.

Without warning, he reached and grabbed my arm. And with a quick movement, he dug his nails into my arm. Somehow cutting through my skin and into flesh, drawing blood.

"Ow, ow! What are you doing?!" I screamed, trying to get his nails out of my arm.

Then after nearly cutting through the other side, he released. And tackled me. My arm was pretty much useless, due to him cutting it off almost. Somehow using his nails. Espeon looked on horrified. But came to help.

She tried getting him off, but in a flash he swung at her. Cutting her face deeply. Espeon, then rammed him to the ground. Trying to keep him down. I had no idea what happened to him, it said he was still alive. I tried getting up, a pool of blood covered me from my arm. Umbreon was terrifying me, I wasn't sure what's going on with him.

When I finally got up, Espeon got blown back with unbelievable force. And Umbreon pinned her down.

"What happened to you?!" Espeon said.

"I can use help!" She said to me.

When I got there, with another quick movement. His leg kicked me a good five feet again. And the wind was knocked out of me. Barely able to breath, I looked as he pretty much ripped Espeon's throat out. I was petrified, and launching up from the ground, I ran.

"Espeon has died." The watch said.

"Umbreon has died." It added.

I wasn't taking a chance to check if he was died. And just kept running. And a minute later, I reached the beginning of the trail. And ran out. Completely out of breath, thinking I was going to die trying to breath. But after sitting there, the guardian appeared. I was extremely mad.

"What was that?!" I demanded.

It just smiled and guested over to the scroll. Not wanting to stay here any longer, I quickly picked it up and opened it. It did it's normal thing, glowing a faint yellow. And when I awoke, I had a bone icon on my arm. Three out of eight. Looking up, I saw Espeon with Umbreon staring at me. After getting up, we left and went to the nearest city. Crater City. While in a coffee shop, I was confused.

"Umbreon, why did you do that?" I asked.

"Do what? I can't really remember much..." He replied.

"You nearly ripped my arm off, and you ripped Espeon's throat out..." I said.

"Wha- what?! I didn't do such thing!" He said, sounding offended.

"No, it's true… And it was the most pain I've ever felt..." Espeon said.

"I… I don't remember that, last thing I remember was… I walked in, and I started looking for you two. But nothing was in the arena. So I thought it was broken, so I left the arena. And waited for you guys." He said.

"Wait you left the arena? Then what was that other Umbreon? He looked terrifying. Exposed rib cage, blood all over. Giant slash across the chest." I said.

We continued talking a bit. But wanted to continue are journey. At lease any damage done to you, is automatically fixed when you leave the scroll's area.

And with that, we walked to our next location. Icy River. But for some reason, I felt watched every second after that...


	6. Chapter 6: Day Off

It was around three in the afternoon. And I, with the other two were enjoying time off. We ended up eating and enjoying the sunshine.

While sitting in the grass, I was interrupted by, Espeon sitting next to me.

"Guess it's nice to enjoy the sun. So I guess we're after the fourth trail?" She asked.

"I know I'm on a time limit. But I needed a little break." I replied.

"Where was it again?" She asked again.

"It's at, Icy River… Wonder what trail it will be this time..." I said.

"This region is filled with many new locations… Kinda exciting..." She replied.

"Uh-huh… Anyways, just enjoy today. Tomorrow is a big day..." I said.

The rest of the day, I went and did some stuff. Shopping, relaxing, eating. Normal stuff.

After the sun went down, I rented a room for us at a nearby hotel. And we slept, ready for anything tomorrow. But around midnight, I awoke to a strange growling sound. Shooting up, I looked at the other two sleeping next to me. But they were fast asleep. I didn't want to wake them up, for something my mind is making up. But I did. Shaking them awake, the noise grew a little louder. And after a minute, I finally woke them up.

"Ugh… Why'd you do that…?" Umbreon said.

I quickly covered his mouth, listening to the noise.

"Do you two hear that?" I whispered.

"Uh, I hear nothing..." Espeon said.

"You really don't hear that growling sound?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" Umbreon replied.

The noise was faint, and I heard it. Sounded like it was coming outside, I slowly walked to the window, and peeked out. The landscape was pitch black, only for a few lamp posts. Looked like something from a horror movie. As I scanned the area, I saw nothing. But searching even harder, I noticed it. A glowing white orb. It startled me a bit, it wasn't from the lamps. And it was slowly moving out of my vision.

"Wha- what?!" I quickly said, putting my clothes on, and running outside.

"Really? I wanna sleep..." Umbreon said, both getting up and chasing me.

I ran out the doors, and looked for it. That thing looked so familiar. Like I know it. Before it left my vision behind the rocks, I saw it had purple glasses. With orange clothes. And I know, I know it.

Quickly running around the rock. Nothing was there. Then I remembered on that horrible day.

"No… No it couldn't be..." I tried rejecting the feeling.

The other two finally caught up with me.

"Dude, is everything alright?" Umbreon asked.

Trying not to cry, I replied.

"Yes… Let's… Let's just head back..." As I walked pass them.

The rest of the night was. Quiet. Nothing much happened, and with that, I drifted into sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of beacon and eggs. I slowly got up, and still felt sad. But manged to stay normal in front of them. We ate, and we were off to the next location.

And after a bit, we reached the next town. Deciding to give our feet a break, I sat on a park bench. And looked at the sky. I didn't noticed that I started crying. Looking up at the sky.

"I miss you two..." I said lowly.

After continuing to stare a bit, I broke my glaze. And started searching for my two teammates. And found them laying next to each others.

"Guys… We should go. After this trail, we can rest all day..." I said.

They noticed my sadden voice. But got up, and we headed off.

After another hour, we reached another town, it was kinda nice, cherry trees and stuff. But walking through, we were stopped by someone.

"A trail goer…? Heh..." He said.

"And who are you?" I replied.

"I'm a legendary when it comes to these… You don't need to know me..." He said.

He then rolled both of his sleeves up. Showing us, eight icons. I didn't really expect to see another trail goer here.

"That's cool, I guess..." I replied.

He then went on to explain, we should team up. The next trail required four party members. I was thinking about it, till he shoved a random thing into me. And showing me it's a map. Of all arenas, and easy paths. He let me keep it, and he invited himself in.

I wasn't ready to face the trail. So I made us take the rest of the day off. To be fully rested tomorrow, it's gonna be a crazy trail, I'm pretty sure.

For the rest of the day, we just relaxed and had some fun. I wondered how that Litten was doing. I really hope he is still alive, I'll try my best to win these trails. I can't bare to see I failed. Already failed to many times. I'll continue to fight, till the end for him...


	7. Chapter 7: Fourth Trail

"Duck! Follow me!" I yelled.

"Attention! Umbreon has died!" My watch said.

"Espeon keep up!" I yelled behind me.

We continued running through the dead forest, trying to dodge attacks. But moments later, Espeon was ripped in half.

"Attention! Espeon has died!" My watch said again.

"This isn't going well!" I thought.

I continued sprinting, ripping my skin apart from the sharp glass poking out of the walls. As the metal footsteps ran after me, I didn't even get the item, and it already threw a boss at us. I ended up running out of the arena, making us fail.

"Left arena. Trail failed!" The watch announced.

I was automatically healed, as I fell to the ground. And my team was waiting for me. Umbreon walked up to me.

"Hey, we can do it next time. Always need to fail at lease once. Let's get some food and try again." He said.

I nodded slowly, and got up. Following them to the city. As we walked in the city, I saw that random legendary trail goer.

"Guess like you failed. Not a big surprised… Now will you let me in?" He said.

"Fine, yes… If you really want to help us… Then you can join..." I replied.

"Cool, now let's go after getting some supplies..." He replied.

After eating, and gathering all we needed, we headed back to the trail room. And the skeleton appeared in front of us.

"Oh, the legendary?! Now you three can learn from him. So, are you ready to face the trail of broken memories?" It said.

"Yes, we're ready..." I said, and we were transported.

We stood in front of the shard maze, and this legendary trail goer looked at us.

"Okay, now follow my lead..." He said.

And with that, we entered the death maze. And this legendary lead us through the maze, and moments later, we reached the required item. Picking it up, he then sprinted, and we followed. Hearing the massive slam of the boss. But somehow, we made it out within 30 seconds. And I was surprised.

"And that's how it's done..." He said.

Tossing me the item, I then heard the guardian.

"The legendary can teach you things… The power is yours..."

And with that, I quickly scattered to the scroll. The scroll wrapped me around a misty purple. And moments later, I woke up with a question mark on my arm. Four out of eight, guess I'll get this done fairly quick. But being on a time limit, I guess I gotta be quick. And this legendary walked up to us.

"Now, if you want to get the power… For whatever reason… I'll be your companion till that..." He said.

"First… What are you?" I asked.

"Heh, guess I should show myself to you…" He said, lifting off his mask.

And I stood in front of a, Minccino.

"Never really show myself… But yes, I'm also the first one to gather every power. Oh, I think around three years ago..." He said.

"Whoa, first one? How?" I asked.

"To be honest, I went in alone. And completed every single one." He replied.

"That's impossible!" Umbreon exclaimed.

"Nah, it's not. Just gotta get on your toes… And I can do just that." He said.

After talking a bit, I wanted to head to the next trail. But Minccino denied. Saying we should always take at lease a day off. For every trail. But I couldn't waste time, and I told him my issue. But he seemed to still reject, and said I still had time. And I was still resisting, but gave up. And so we went to a nearby park in the city.

Umbreon and Espeon were talking to someone on the phone, and I was wondering who. So I walked up to them.

"Uh, who are you talking to? That Riolu?" I asked.

"No, our friend Braixen… Oh! That reminds me, I think you dropped this..." Espeon said, handing me a small box.

"A… Small box?" I thought.

I thanked her, and walked off. Wondering where this box came from. Sitting down next to a tree, I opened it. Expecting nothing, but when I did. I noticed the gently placed of an obsidian gem. My mind went into question, I never seem this type of gem. And is only found near the core of the earth. And a fortune in stores. Used to make extremely powerful tools, house components and even electronics. I walked back up to her.

"Where did you find this?" I asked.

"Dunno, I just found it besides you when you passed out… Thought it was yours." She said.

Not wanting to make a long conversion, I just said.

"Uh, yeah this is mine… Must've fell out of my pocket… Thanks..."

And I walked off. It was strange seeing an obsidian gem. But I didn't think much of it. Maybe it was a reward for completing the fourth trail. But it still made me feel strange, I didn't see anything like this. Even when I awoke. But not thinking much more, I stuffed it in my pocket, and enjoyed the sun.

The next day came pretty quickly, I woke up feeling half cold and half hot. As I was sleeping in a tent. Slowly unzipping my sleeping bag, I noticed Umbreon and Espeon sleeping next to me still. Looking at my watch, it was only five in the morning. And feeling a powerful urge to pee. Thinking that's why I woke up, I quickly unzipped the tent and went out. And the sudden amazing breeze hit me.

I made my way near the forested area, to do my thing. And once I finished, I was heading back. But stopped, as I had that feeling of being watched. I slowed my walk, and started looking around. The sun barely peeking over the mountains.

"If anything was watching me, hopefully they didn't see me pee..." I tried lightening my mood.

Not seeing anything, I thought it was my mind. Darkness always makes my mind create things. But not thinking more of it, I quietly crawled back into the tent. In about four hours, we'll be going to the next trail. And this time, we'll speed through it. With Minccino. And hopefully that's true.

I fell asleep, thinking about that Litten, and what he was doing now...


	8. Chapter 8: Fifth Trail

Waking up around 7:25AM, I put my pants and shirt on. And looking over, those two were still out.

"Ugh, come on, wake up." I said, poking Espeon.

"Uh..." Espeon groaned, shooing my hand away.

Not wanting to try waking them up, I headed outside. Walking outside, the sun shined brightly. And that Minccino was sitting, eating. I walked over and sat next to him.

"So, why do you really want the stones? I don't believe what you told me..." He suddenly asked, not looking at me.

"Wha-? No, I was telling the truth yesterday. I want to save this Litten, I don't want to sit and watch him die." I said.

"All you really told me was, you were near a river. Then suddenly found him? That doesn't make sense. And you became friends like instantly? Hard." He replied.

"It is true. My life has been nothing but torture for years… No friends, family or anything! I now use to live in an orphanage, and they treated you completely awful. Not sure how it wasn't shut down yet..." I said back.

"Uh-huh..." He said, sounding very bored.

"I alre-" I was cut off.

He shoved a strangely warmed rock in my face. Then pulled away to show me.

"Now, shut up. See this? This is "The rock of healing". I got it from completing Yuka's eight stones trails. And this..." He said, pulling another thing out.

"Now this, it's "Ring of teleport". I got it from completing Champa's eight treasures.

He then placed them on the ground.

"Take them, they're useless to me. Also if you really consider saving this random stranger then… Let me tell you something. The scroll's powers aren't powerful enough to cure curses. It requires two or more, and I would do it. But I don't care enough. If you really want to save this stranger, then find someone with another eight powers." He said.

I was mad that he told me this. Now there is no hope, and I may just back down. This Minccino. He made me angry, but before I did anything, I walked away.

Getting in the tent, I quickly shook the two, pretty much on each others. And they jolt up in shock.

"What man? I was sleeping..." Umbreon said.

"Shut up, we're going..." I said.

They got out, and I took our gear down. And headed off. Not bringing this legendary, I didn't want to deal with him. I knew something was wrong with him, and he is a complete jerk. He just shrugged and walked his own path. I was quiet, not wanting to talk. As the two tried to talk to me, and after not getting a respond. They just stopped. I kept thinking he was just trying to make me stop my journey. He did change his tone when he heard I was after the powers. And just became pretty rude. He probably didn't want another legendary in this region. But that won't stop me, even if he was telling the truth. So I kept leading our group to the next trail.

Nonstop walking for three hours, we reached what we came for. Poison City. They kept complaining they're hungry and tired, so we stopped and got all ready for the trail. And once that was done, we entered the cave.

And there it was, the fifth scroll. Covered in a pretty crystal look.

"Disappointment… Thought the legendary would've came with you." I heard the guardian speak.

"No, I want to do these with my group." I replied.

I didn't care how it knew I was with him.

"Well, ready for the trail of shattered paths?" It said.

I quickly said yes, and a crystal ball transported us. And we stood in front of a crystal maze. And I ran in, not thinking.

Sword in hand, I kept looking for the item, the two right behind me. Only running into small enemies, but quickly destroyed them. And another ten enemies, then I found it. The middle, and the item I needed. A vast of a green liquid. I looked over it, and it seemed very odd. Wondering what was in it, but I picked it up, and ran. The two following as we heard the ground shake. Not from a metal death machine falling. But it was coming underground. And moments later, in front of us, this disgusting looking worm thing burst out of the dirt. Staring at us with billions of eyes.

"This is new..." Espeon said.

Still with my sword, this thing wasn't stopping me. And I quickly jumped onto it, slashing away at it's rotten flesh. Tearing chucks and dead flesh everywhere. And breaking it's skin, it leaked this strange green goo, that exploded in my face. Knocking me onto the ground, gagging from it flooding my mouth. Throwing up everywhere, I finally stood up. And it dug underground again.

"Dude, that's disgusting, hopefully that isn't toxic..." Umbreon said.

Moments later, it reappeared behind us, and I quickly turned and slashed at it again. I wanted to slice this thing in half, and nothing will stop me. They looked in surprised, I never fought a boss with them around. This was my first time, I wanted to show how powerful I was. And how I'm not helpless. I couldn't had done anything about my parents deaths. But I will save someone in their spot. Not wanting to sit next to someone close to me, dying in the hospital. Not again.

And with one fatal swing with all my strength, I cut right through the boss. Making it drop creating a shock wave. I fell to the ground, and couldn't get up.

"Dude, you okay? That was one massive wave, knocked us back a bit." Umbreon said.

"Buizel, you look awful. But hey you beaten your first boss… Come on let's go." Espeon added.

And I slowly got up, still not talking. But once we reached the exit, I heard a whisper in my ear.

"Buizel..." It said, in this soothing voice.

I stopped, and the other two wondered what was wrong. As they were in front of me. The voice continued saying my name, and I saw a ghostly figure. My eyes grew, and I reached my hand out. But then blackness.

Once I woke up, I was shivering intensely. I wasn't cold or anything. Looking at my arm with blurry vision, I saw a vast on my arm. Five out of eight. Trying to get up, and couldn't. I just lay there. But after a bit, the shivering stopped, and I managed to get up. But my team walked up to me.

"Uh, you feel better?" Espeon asked.

"Man, you didn't look well at all, what happened? You were normal one second, then..." Umbreon said.

"What… Happened?" I asked.

"Well, we almost made it out. But you stopped, and we turned back to see what was wrong. But then you started silently crying, and reached your hand out. You pretty much fell on your knees, holding your ears, and sobbing pretty badly. Then started yelling some stuff we couldn't understand. And then you fell unconscious… We needed to drag you out, but you still received your power..." Espeon explained.

Then it came back to me. After hearing my name, I looked up, and saw a white orb. Dressed in pink clothes and a heart necklace. It was my mother, I remembered that necklace. I bought it for her three years ago, on mothers day before she and my father died. I punched the stone floor many times, till my knuckles started bleeding.

"I miss them so much..." I said.

The two looked pretty sad. If only they knew my entire life story, but that wasn't going to help now. We're nearly done, and I just wanted to get this done. After Espeon fixed my bleeding fist, I was tired, sad and depressed. I just wanted to cry in bed all day for today.

We all went to a nearby hotel, and we rented a room for a day. And I was crying into the pillow, as they tried cheering me up. But soon later, I fell asleep. Still silently crying, I don't know what to do. Guess I'll continue to fight these trails. I stood asleep the rest of the day, I needed it anyways...


	9. Chapter 9: Sixth Trail

I woke up, staring at the ceiling. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I got out of bed and walked out. Walking out of my room, I saw Espeon and Umbreon sitting and playing a game. But seeing me, they were glad.

"Feel any better? Slept all yesterday, and half of today." Espeon said.

"I guess..." I replied.

"Do you want to head out? Or tomorrow?" Umbreon asked.

"Just give me an hour or two..." I said back.

"Okay." Espeon said.

"Espeon, I wonder what he went through. He seemed extremely depressed." Umbreon whispered, but I heard.

"Umbreon, you two shouldn't hear what I've suffered with. Just leave it." I responded, walking out the door.

I walked to a small store, and bought some random things. And just walked for a bit, thinking what I'm going to do. I already completed five trails just three more, it shouldn't be that hard. It was around three in the afternoon, and I wanted to get my sixth trail completed. So I headed back, gathered the two, and we headed off to the next one. While we were walking, Espeon walked right next to me.

"Remember our leader, Riolu? Well… He called us when you were gone. He wants us to come back like today. But we're not going to leave you alone, you know that? We can take all his complaining when we get back. But we should really get this done, you've been on this for like a week. Who knows how long this "Litten" was cursed for. So let's not waste any time, okay?" She said.

"I know… I don't want to think about it, but maybe he died already. Even if that's true. I'm not stopping my trails." I replied.

Espeon looked at me, and just fell back to Umbreon, as we continued to the sixth trail.

We were arriving at the town where the trail was, but had a feeling of being watched. Stopping, I started looking around. The two looked at me, wondering why I stopped. But after not finding anything, we continued, as I said, I thought I seen something.

And moments later, we reached the town.

Checking my watch, it said it was south of us. So we headed there, and when we reached the cave, I was looking at my map. I sighed deeply.

"Okay… If we do this, we can quickly reach the seventh trail from the north." I said.

"Well, we can t-" Umbreon was cut off, with a short gasp.

Hearing the loud thud, I looked back with confusion on my face.

"Got ya in my grasp now!" I heard a voice.

Looking down, I saw what seemed like a Fennekin. With Umbreon in a choke hold.

"Hey, ugh. Fennekin." Umbreon tried speaking.

"Uh..." I stood there.

"Huh? Oh." Fennekin looked at me.

She rolled off Umbreon and stood up.

"Howdy, I don't recall meeting you." She said.

"Uh, because we never meant… Uh, you guys know her?" I asked.

"Sure do! She has been our friend for quite a bit. Fennekin what are you doing here in Yalso? Weren't you in Gaco like a week ago?" Umbreon said.

"To be honest with ya, I wanted to explore the world. So I left the country of Gaco, and headed here. It's good to see you again." She said to him.

I just stood there, standing in complete confusing. I didn't know who this was, and I just wanted to get the sixth trail done.

"Uh, okay then. Guys we should do the trail now..." I interrupted.

"Trail? Mind if I tag along?" Fennekin asked.

"This is for… Experienced… Trail goers..." I said.

"Boy, I'm possibly more experienced then you. Let me show you!" She said.

"Well, it isn't my fault if you suffer the pain of dying." I replied.

This Fennekin was a bit off. But I was going to give her a chance, possibly she will deem herself.

We walked in, ready for whatever to come. And climbing through narrow and thin places, we reached the middle. With a sapphire looking scroll floating there. Then the guardian appeared, as a fleshy bloody beast. That was pretty new.

"What in tarnation is that?!" Fennekin screamed.

"Calm down..." Umbreon replied.

The beast scanned us down, I was pretty terrified, but stood straight.

"Team of four…?" It spoke.

"And you have five trails completed. You've been doing work. I shall grant you a gift for the remaining trails..." It added.

And moments later, it formed a blood titanium sword. And handed me it.

"Whoa, that's the coolest darn thing ever!" I heard Fennekin.

I tried it on some stone, and it split in two. Even the stone wall cut pretty easy.

"So, are you ready for the trail of darkness?" It said.

We all agreed, and warped to the arena.

Opening our eyes, I felt a little off. When my watch pinged.

"Warning. Timed arena, complete within ten minutes, or suffer a painful death of poison." It said.

"This is new. Well, let's get going." Espeon said.

The three followed behind me, as I navigated the darken arena, slicing anything in two. It took a couple of minutes, but I reached a dead end. I was confused, it was leading us this way all the way. Without any other pathways to take.

"Uh, what is this? This was the only pathway all the way. Did you three see anything out of place?" I asked.

They all shook their heads, and we were left there not knowing what to do. I decided to try cutting through it, but when I did. Something reflected my attack, bouncing my sword back. I was confused even more at this point. Then I thought of something, if it was a puzzle. There was possibly a hidden pressure plate or button to press. And I told the others of this. We all started feeling around the darken walls, in hope to find something to open a hidden passage. And I knew I was right, after feeling around for half a minute, I pushed in a stone. Hearing some clicks, I looked to the dead end, and it opened.

"Good job… Let's continue before this poison kills us..." Umbreon said.

And with that, we ran into the new area. Later finding the center, with what looked like a blacken ball. I didn't waste a second taking it, and yelling to run. And so we did. Surprisingly, Fennekin was right beside me, same speed. Thought she would've died already, but maybe she can really do this thing. As I was near the exit, I felt suddenly cold, and peeking back, I saw what I think was the boss. It was just a black figure, flying towards us. 

"What in the world is that?!" I yelled.

But before it got any of us, we ran out. Taking a second to get our breaths back, I showed the guardian the item. And it seemed pleased, and gave me the scroll. Opening it, everything did it's normal thing. And I woke up, having the black mist icon.

"Hey, sixth trail! Two more!" Umbreon exclaimed.

But I felt that strange feeling of being watched, and I looked behind my team. To see a glowing white orb. I didn't look at it, and continued to cheer about our victory.

And that evening, I was sitting on a park bench with, Umbreon and Espeon. Eating ice cream and chatting.

"So, two trails now… Are you excited?" Espeon questioned.

"Yeah, I I'm… I'm glad you two came along." I replied.

"Man, I wouldn't miss a chance to go with a trail goer." Replied, Umbreon.

"Hey, y'all, I'm getting kinda tired. Wanna head to our room now?" The Fennekin said.

It was getting dark out, and we headed back. Just watching some TV, then head off to bed before ten. Laying down, I heard Umbreon calling me. So I got back up, and walked to see what he wanted.

"I kinda want to go to sleep… What did you need?" I asked.

"There's two trails left. So let's give it all we got. I read on my tablet, the last two trails will be insanely hard. So let's try our best!" He said.

"And how hard is hard?" I asked.

"Pretty insane… Pretty much it throws everything at you from the last six..." He replied.

"Great… Well, let's get a good rest and head out tomorrow." I said back.

And with that, I lay down, and fell asleep...


	10. Chapter 10: Seventh Trail

I woke up, and just lay there for a bit.

"Ah… Another day of traveling..." I sighed.

Getting up, still tired, I stretched and headed to get some food, nearly tripping over, Umbreon and Espeon, who were wrapped around each others.

Once I grabbed some leftovers, I just went outside to eat, and enjoyed the sunrise. After sitting there for a few minutes, I heard the door open and close. Looking back, I saw that Fennekin.

"Howdy, what are you doing?" She said.

"Uh, just eating..." I replied.

"This place is pretty nice. Even better with my friends. So why are you doing these things called "Trails"? Does it do something?" She asked.

"I'm just doing this to save someone." I replied.

"Ah… Well hopefully we can do this!" She said.

"Yeah… Are those two love birds up yet?" I asked.

"I'll go wake them up." She said, walking inside.

It was around 9:30AM, and I was still sleepy. Umbreon and Espeon walked outside, and sat down next to me. We discussed our plans, and we agreed on one. We only have two left, I know we can do it. After getting some more ice cream, we all headed to the next trail. But midway through, we stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. While the others were using the bathroom, I was checking the map. And it said the next trail was pretty much up the road. As I was scanning the easiest way to reach it, I heard a bush rustle. I quickly looked over, but saw nothing. A bit confused, I just focused on the map. But once again, the bush rustled again. Looking over once again, I once again saw nothing.

"Uh, hello?" I called out.

"Anyone?" I continued.

It got me even confused, it was strange. But I chalked it up to wind. It was kinda windy out. Once I looked down again, a small pebble hit me in the head.

"Ouch, what?" I said softly.

When I looked over, I noticed just in time, a hand retreating back in the bush.

"Alright, who's there?" I said, into the bush.

"And what's taking them so long in the bathroom?" I softly said.

I walked up to the bush, and forcefully moved them aside, but saw nothing. I glared around, but saw nothing. So I didn't bother much about it, possibly pranksters.

And finally after what felt like hours, they walked out.

"Jeez, what took you so long?" I asked.

We continued towards the seventh trail. And ten minutes later, we arrived in a massive city. And it was called "Magma City". Getting it's name due to it's volcano, last active over 1,000 years ago. It was a super volcano as well, if it even erupt, half of the region would burn down. But not showing activity for 1,000 years, everyone doesn't worry. Yalso wasn't even made that long ago, so it didn't matter.

Checking my map, I saw it was, indeed located in the volcano. The pathway to it was pretty simple. An already made and polished footpath, so there wasn't a problem falling to your death. We continued our way down, and minutes later, I reached the bottom. Seeing the scroll in all it's glory.

"Man, never been in a volcano before. Thought it'd be more… Lava stuff..." Umbreon said.

"Well if you look closely, there are lava crystals. I wish I brought lava gloves. Would so gather these for some research." Espeon replied.

"Alright guys… We need to do this trail quickly." I told them.

"Right! Now, if we have nothing to say, let's start." Umbreon said.

We walked up to the scroll, and we heard a voice.

"Look like you made it. Hmm, six outta eight? Very good, but these last two will be nearly impossible. If you want to take time, and gear up… Then go, but if you think you have what it takes… Then go for it." It said.

I talked over with my team, and none of us needed anything. So without anything else to do, I said.

"Yes, we're ready. Let's get this over with..."

"Very well, let's begin the trail of hunted." It replied.

Being transported, we appeared in the arena, we planned to take it slow. And with that we walked in carefully. We continued walking through it, encountering skeletons and other enemies. While walking through the closed walls, I heard a strange noise. Stopping, I looked around, and look at my team confused.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Nope. What did you hear?" Umbreon asked.

"Not sure, I thought I heard something. Let's continue." I said.

There was something off. I kept feeling a strange pulse all around. Finally reaching the center, Umbreon sprinted towards the item, and grabbed it, running at impressive speeds back to us. He tossed it to Espeon, and we started running from whatever was going to chase us. But something was different, I felt sick and dizzy. The pulsing being sent from whatever, it made my vision blurry. And made me feel like puking. The others were getting effected also, and I wanted to know who's causing this. But turning around, it was horrible.

A mass of bone, flesh and organs. Empty eye sockets, and visible beating heart. I couldn't even make out what it was.

"Oh gah! What is that!?" I yelled.

And what it did next, was complete disgusting. The horrifying view proceeded to rip off chucks of itself, and threw it at us. But we somehow dodged all it's fleshy attacks. But I felt sick to my stomach, that is something you'll never forget. But then I noticed, the pulsing making us feel this way, was it's heart. I saw ripples coming from it, and it effected us pretty badly. Whatever this abomination was, it was doing a good job trying to destroy us.

But we ended up outrunning it somehow. And rushed out the arena. Falling to our knees, we pretty much threw up at the same time. After that, I stood up, taking the item from Espeon, and placing it on the alter. It then vanished, and the voice allowed me to use the scroll. I picked it up, getting wrapped in orange mist, then blackness. All that stuff. And when I awoke, I saw my new bow icon.

"My stomach is on fire..." Umbreon complained.

"Same..." The other two said.

Walking, and helping them all up, I showed them my seventh icon.

"Cool man… Uh, can we get some ice cream sandwiches?" Umbreon said.

Not wanting to take the long way out, I let the hidden guardian do it for us. And when we arrived at surface, we tried to satisfy our burning stomachs.

And that night, I was sitting outside, staring up to the moon. Just silently doing nothing, till Espeon walked out.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just one more… Litten..." I said, under my breath.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's still going on. How long ago did you start these?" She asked again.

"I'm not really sure. Like a week and a half… Possibly two weeks, I'm not sure. And I'm not sure how long he had this curse..." I replied.

"Well, let's go early in the morning, I know we can do the last one." She said back.

"Yeah, I guess… You should get some rest. I'll be in soon." I said.

She headed back in, and five minutes later, I walked in and headed to bed...


	11. Chapter 11: Life Or Death

"Alright everyone! Final trail!" I exclaimed.

"So, what is the plan? This is the hardest one." Umbreon asked.

"Not sure, don't care. Let's just see what it's like, then we'll make a plan." I replied.

We ate, and packed up for the last trail. We're going to win this, I have to, I don't have much time left. This Litten won't die from something stupid like that. We ended up renting bikes, and started racing to the next trail. And within twenty minutes, we reached our destination. Platinum City.

Getting off our bikes, I continued sprinting to the cave. The three still behind me. And reaching this odd looking mine shaft, it was completely pitch black.

"Here, take this." Espeon said, handing me a flashlight.

Turning it on, I started venturing deeper and deeper within the mines. As we were about to reach the center, I fell a good twenty feet. But avoided serious injury.

"Guys, be careful. Nearly ended extremely badly." I shouted up.

The fall did break the flashlight, and I was left in pitch blackness. I told them this, but they didn't have another light, so they agreed to head back to get some glow sticks. And now I was completely alone, in the dark. Not wanting to sit in the insanity blackness, I started feeling around. But there wasn't anything, at all. It was like a stone cube. So I decided just to stay still, and not risk falling deeper somehow. And ten minutes later, they came back, as I saw green, blue and orange lights.

"Hey, catch!" Espeon said, throwing a purple glow stick down.

Turning it on, I was finally able to see. But it was indeed a hole.

"Uh, guys. There's no way out." I said back up.

"See, Espeon? I knew this would come in handy." Umbreon said, throwing a rope down.

"You knew this was a hole?" I asked.

"Maybe… Climb up and let's continue." He said.

Once I got out that hole, I looked around. And saw a thin ledge, so I decided to pass it. The others saw me, and looked at me like I was insane. But they followed, and we all got over safely. We continued down the mines, and found the center minutes later. Approaching the scroll, a blood like liquid started leaking from the roof above. But the blood morphed into what I think was the guardian. Once it fully morphed together, it was a bloody creature. With it's liquefied eyes scanning us.

It made some strange facial expressions, that's what it looked like. But with it's hand, it write in watery blood.

"Cut those three, and you shall continue. This is only for one..." It read.

"Well, good luck Buizel!" Umbreon said, rushing away.

The other two also did the same, sitting near the entrance. It wrote again.

"Good, good. Now are you ready for the trail of dark memories?" It read again.

"Dark memories…? Uh, ye- yes? I'm ready..." I said.

It nodded, and transported me, as I looked at my team. I appeared in what looked like a bloody maze.

"Gross… Uh… Let's start this then." I said to myself.

Making my way into the maze, I started looking for the item. But it was difficult, as a ton of enemies are appearing out of nowhere, and so many dead ends. I ended up getting slashed many times, bleeding quite badly. But I wasn't going to lose, even through the pain, and the feeling of fainting. I continued slicing my way through enemies. And after killing waves of enemies, I finally reached the middle. And there it lay, a perfectly cut diamond. As I touched it, my blood covered it's perfect blue texture. But it didn't matter, I had the item. I started sprinting away, with all the strength from the blood lost I had left.

But I didn't hear anything, no boss. No nothing. I slowed, and began to walk, wondering where it was. But then I heard it, a faint whisper.

"Always..."

The voice sounded familiar. But before I knew it, I heard multiple loud thuds around the map. Then my watch burst into a loud static voice.

"Last item obtained! Releasing every boss from every trail!"

That was enough for me to sprint as fast as possible. Running down many ways, I encountered a couple walking around. But then I saw it. The end, and I sprinted to it, hearing the flesh beast, and wraith chasing me. As I was nearly there, my vision turned red. As I felt a burning feeling coming from my back, I touched it with my hand, but it as well burned. Then I noticed the flesh monster hit me with it's organs.

Before I ran out, the thing on my back sent out a massive shock wave on me. Making me trip three inches from the exit. And within a second, they were on top of me. As they both pulled out swords, as they swung down. I quickly grabbed my sword, and deflected their attacks. The fleshy boss then grabbed my arms, forcing them to be stuck to the ground. The wraith tried swinging again, but I rolled out of the way just in time.

"I'm going to win! Get away!" I shouted.

My hands weren't fully stuck to the ground, so I grabbed my sword handle, and with a perfect hand movement. I swung the insanely sharp sword at the wraith. Cutting it in two. It fell to the ground, and disappeared. The fleshy monster was still over me, but I kicked it. Covering my foot in the sticky goo. The monster then swung his sword. But then I felt the pain, and my vision became completely red. The stinging feeling came from my left hand. Then I noticed, it cut my hand off.

I screamed in intense pain. Blood sprayed everything, but I wasn't going to lose. I felt extremely faint, and nearly blacking out. But I gained enough strength from the pain, I ripped my intact hand free. And swiftly picking up the sword, I started slashing the thing about forty times in ten seconds. When I finally stopped, I noticed, it was completely mush.

"I'm… No-" I fell to my knees.

I fell to the ground, and tried to get up. But couldn't. Looking across from the way, was the blood covered diamond.

"Don't give up..." I heard a whispered.

My eyes slowly closed, and blurred.

"Don't give up… Get up, your right there… Buizel..." Hearing another whisper.

Hearing my name, I opened my eyes. And dragged myself, with only one hand to the diamond. Grabbing it with my hand, I threw it out of the arena. As it rolled, I heard my watch. My watch was covered in blood and on the ground, as it was on my chopped off hand.

"Item safely out of arena." It faintly said.

I grabbed the watch as well, and threw it out. It still had my life and status on it. Once it left the arena, it somehow counted as me leaving, and once I did that, I blacked out. Hearing the watch.

"Arena Pa-..." As I fainted.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a strange white area. And I heard the faintest of whispers.

"Do you want to continue…? Or do you want to move on…?" It said.

"Wha- what…?" I said, still extremely dazed.

"Walk away from the light, and continue… Or head into the light to move on..." It replied.

Then a blinding light appeared in front of me.

"What…? Is this life or death?" I questioned.

I stared in the light, thinking what I should do. If I move on, I'll be able to be reunited with my deceased parents and friends. And live happily again. But if I continue living, I'll continue to be tortured by everyone, and the world. But it means saving Litten. And I can't leave my new friends, I got three of them on this adventure. I fell down, trying to think what to do.

"Life… Save Litten, and don't abandon my new friends. But continue to get tortured by the world..." I thought.

"Death… Move on, let Litten down, and leave my new friends, and escape this torture. But get reunited to my parents, and friends who died..." I thought about the other option.

I wasn't sure what to do, I suffered my entire life. But lately, I've been having a blast with my new friends. And if I live, I can save Litten.

I kept switching ideas. Death, life, death, life. I wasn't sure. But after breaking down, I stood up. I made my decision. I turned my back to the light, and walked into the darkness. Turning back, tears running down my face.

"I'm sorry mom and dad… And everyone... So sorry..." I said, breaking up.

Looking down, the tears fell onto the marble floor. I clutched my hands into fists, and continued walking into the darkness. Till I couldn't see anything. Then my eyes opened, staring up at the caves ceiling. And saw Espeon lean over to me. Her eyes widen.

"Guy's he awake!" She shouted.

And the other two ran over to me. I sat up, and they seemed so happy.

"Dude, we were so worried! You didn't wake up after getting the thing on your arm."

Looking all over my body, I was completely healed. No scars, hand in place. Everything was fine.

When I looked at my arms, I saw all eight icons. The newest one being a shattered record player. My eyes then watered up, and I burst into tears.

"I was… In a life and death place… I picked life… Why?! After saying I wanted to be with my parents… I still picked life..." I said, choking through sobs.

The three felt my pain, and comforted me by, Umbreon and Espeon. Hugging each side of me. As I just sat there crying.

"We're glad you didn't leave. We've went through a lot these pass weeks, and it was really fun. You should continue fighting..." Espeon said.

"Yeah, without you, I would've never had fun in this region!" Umbreon added.

They continued to hug me, as the guardian appeared. I wasn't paying attention, as I was staring down to the floor, still crying uncontrollable. But Fennekin walked up to me.

"I reckon your still sadden? If you want, I'll put this here…" She said, placing something next to me.

I finally looked up, and it looked like a scanner from those Sci-Fi movies. The two let me go, and I picked up the scanner. With it came with a note, I detached it and read.

"This is a scanner to use the eight powers. To use, point at an object, living, dead, or personal item. Wait till the lock-on prompt appears. Keep steady aim, and pull the trigger. Please keep the item and scanner in contact with each others. And wait ten seconds, once it's finish the prompt "Done" will appear." It read.

I flipped it over, and saw more.

"If used on a living target, hold still and aim for the head. Keep the living target still. Wait twenty seconds, and it will ding. This should only be used if the living target has. A curse, sickness, pain, broken bones, and so on. If the target is perfectly healthy it will not register." It read again.

I held the small scanner in my hands, still crying. But another minute, and I slowly got up.

"I'm okay… I know where we need to go now..." I told them.

"Lead the way." Umbreon said.

It was time. It was time to finally complete my journey. I headed to Crystal River. Ready to hopefully encounter Litten, still alive. We headed there, taking the bikes we rent...


	12. Chapter 12: The End

"So… What do you two mostly do?" I asked.

"Hmm, not sure. We live together, and work on random projects." Umbreon said.

"Shh, Umbreon. We do a lot of work when not on breaks like this. Always working on stuff, and so on." Espeon replied.

"Cool. Well, we're nearly there, it's about a mile or so." I said.

We were gently peddling our bikes to my destination. I believe I have more time, so we stopped at a rest stop. Just getting food and water for all the peddling. As I sat down, I was eating my ham sandwich, and we were having a nice break. Fennekin was a pretty interesting thing. For growing up in the country she's really good, fast, and smart.

"Uh, Buizel?" Espeon suddenly said.

"Yeah?" I asked, confused.

"The sun's going down. We should probably go now." She replied.

"Oh, man. You're right! Come on everyone, time to head out, I believe it's about ten minutes from here." I said.

We got back on our bikes, and continued to Crystal Lake.

And ten minutes later, we arrived there, it felt weird to be back. I don't want to think much about it, too many dark memories. But we got off the bikes, and I walked to the river. Kneeing down, I just stared in the water, showing a clear reflection of my face. Looking up, I didn't see anything, just us.

"So, uh… Nice place." Umbreon said.

"Litten mentioned he stays here mostly all day long, every day." I said.

Looking around, I was wondering where he was, I know he wasn't died. And I may be right, I saw leftover orange peels, and apples. Making my way around the place, we all kept an eye out. But after reaching a cave entrance, I saw a large amount of things piled up outside of it. Thinking it may be him, I made my way into the darken cave. Using our stock pile of glow sticks, as we still had them.

It looked very well made. Nicely decorated, and random stuff. Like a makeshift bed. But it was pretty small, and nothing was there, and without finding much more we left. But as we walked out, I heard someone grunting, and loud cutting noises from an axe. We followed the noise, and saw what I was looking for. My friend Litten, swinging his axe at a tree.

I approached him, and he heard our footsteps. He looked over, and seemed happy to see me again, and I was smiling at him.

"Hey… Cool tattoos..." He said.

"I told you, I'll save you… No matter what, and I'm saving you now." I replied.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I told you, there's no way. I've been feeling sick lately anyways." He said back.

"Just… Just follow my orders, okay?" I replied.

"Okay, okay..." He said, not showing any emotion.

I placed him in place, like the note said. And made him stay extremely still, and pretty much he froze in place. Once I got that done, I pulled out my scanner. And with a deep breath, I aimed it at his head, and he looked extremely worried. Possibly thinking it's an actually weapon. But aiming at his head, info appeared on the scanner.

"Target: Alive. Illness: Cursed. Target acquired. Pull trigger to begin process." It said.

And with that, I pulled the trigger. Still staying completely still, and once I pulled it, a reddish laser appeared on his head. I waited twenty seconds, and every few seconds, one of my tattoos disappeared. And once the twenty seconds were over, I had no more of the icons. Clear skin again. The laser faded, and said "Done". I switched it to scan mode, and scanned Litten. It blinked green and said "Curse terminated."

I showed Litten this, and he seemed shocked, and said he felt perfectly fine now. The three watched us, as Litten hugged me.

"I thought you were lying just to make me feel better… But you kept your promise… I'm so glad we met!" He exclaimed.

"I already lost enough… I didn't want to lose another thing close to me." I replied.

We departed from each others, and he seemed happy like the day I first met him. And what perfect timing, as Espeon's phone rang. We looked over, and once she answered, all we heard was screaming from the other side.

"Jeez, Shinx. Calm down, just put up with Riolu a bit longer, okay?" She said.

She quickly rang up, and looked at Umbreon with a scared look.

"Uh, we should really get back to Yuka. Riolu is tormenting Shinx..." She said.

"Man, he gotta chill. Should've came with us, heh." Umbreon said.

"Buizel, we really had fun, but it's time we get going. Wanna walk to the airport?" She asked.

I agreed, and we all walked there. Litten and I, finally talking like nothing was wrong.

We reached the airport within half an hour, and they bought their tickets. Before they left they turned back.

"Hey, so… I'm kinda glad we came along. It was honestly really fun." Espeon said.

"Yeah! I'm so coming back here during my free time." Umbreon added.

"It was fun, wasn't it? Well hope we cross paths again." I replied.

"What about me?" Fennekin said.

"Just stay here, possibly continue exploring with Buizel..." Espeon said.

"Guess it could be fun. Reckon you want me along?" She said.

"Sure, you seem cool to be around." I said.

With that, we waved goodbye to the two, and once the doors closed, I didn't know what to do. So Litten, Fennekin and I went back to Crystal Lake. We just lay around staring at the sky. Just talking about random stuff, it was so nice to finally do something. And not run away. I've been through a lot, and I'm glad I chosen too.

Now three months passed, and the three of us now live in our own apartment. Life couldn't be any better, finally living with who I care about most.

But one day, I received an envelope in the mailbox, early in the morning. It had no return address, but it was sent from Yuka. In a half pink and blue texture.

Walking inside the apartment, I said if any of them was expecting mail. But no one claimed it, so I thought it was, Umbreon and Espeon. But how'd they get our complex, even more our apartment number. I grew curious about it, and lifted the opening. Revealing a piece of paper. Confused, I grabbed it, and opened it.

"Enjoying your new life? How long will it last…? See you soon. -J" It read.

"Uh… Strange. Whatever they're in Yuka." I thought.

Still looking at the scrape, I was interrupted by Litten.

"Hey, Fennekin and I are heading to the nearby swimming center. Wanna come?" He asked.

"Sure, sounds really fun!" I said, cheerful.

I tossed the note in the trash without thinking, and got ready...


End file.
